The Blaus - South America and Europe

5 de Julio, Traveling the Amazon River between Colombia and Brazil

The Amazon is so wide in places that it looks more like a lake than a river, but when you are standing on the banks you can see the force with which the river flows and carries massive amounts of water and sediment from the runoff of the Andes in Peru all the way to the river's mouth on the Atlantic.

Some staggering statistics about the largest river system in the world - the Amazon basin contains 6 million square kilometers of river and jungle and spans 8 South American countries. The basin contains 17 percent of the world's fresh water. There are 45,000 miles of navigable rivers. Average riverflow at its mouth is 12 billion liters a minute (12 times that of the Mississippi). Oceangoing vessels can sail 3,500 kilometers inland up the Amazon mainstream to Iquitos, Peru. All this puts in perspective the size of the river, and what is even more amazing is the size of the jungle that surrounds it.

The Amazon was given its name by a Spanish explorer who floated down the Rio Napo to its confluence with the Amazon (near Iquitos). He left an Andean expedition to forage for supplies. As he floated down river to the mouth of the Amazon, his expedition was attacked by Indians, some of them female, like the Amazons of Greek mythology (as he would later report). And so the Amazon was named. We decided to follow Francisco de Orellana's footprints down river to see as much of this mythical and gargantuan river as possible.

Our journey started in Tabatinga, Brazil which is really just the Brazilian half of Leticia, Colombia. The city is really one, and there are no markers that define the international line except some people exchanging money on the Brazilian side. We got hammock space on a cargo boat that looks a bit like a river boat would in the States, but there are no seats or cabins, only open areas to hang hammocks for the passengers. We arrived 6 hours before departure as we were told to do to insure we would get good hammock space, not by the bathrooms or kitchen (these turned out to the same area). We put our hammocks up as we were some of the first people on the boat, and we decided it would be a nice trip to relax and enjoy views of the Amazon from our hammocks.

After about 3 hours, the boat was beginning to get really full. Our once spacious hammock spot and been totally diminished, and we were surrounded by families of 8 with crying kids, groups of loud drunk men, and hammocks everywhere. Our mood quickly changed about our fate on the boat. We finally pushed off and we were feeling that things would be OK, no more people and we had just enough space to keep us sane and to allow us to sleep comfortably. That feeling was swiftly replaced by fear as we made multiple stops, each one picking up more and more people. It got to the point where we had people putting their hammocks above and below us, and it was impossible to be in the hammock without having 4 or 5 different people touching you.

We decided to go up to the roof to get some sun and to escape the slave boat conditions that we were going to have to sleep in. On the roof there was a bar with people playing cards and dominoes, all of which were drinking beer at 7 AM everyday of the trip. We went back down to check on our stuff, and found another hamock had appeared right between the two of ours, literally giving us no room at all to breathe. This was the last straw for Jen. She started taking the hammock down when the owner came back and started tying it back up. This was not a good move on his part, because he got a giant tongue lashing in English by an irate American girl from San Francisco. Jen was yelling at him, red in the face, saying between English insults, "no hay espacio" which means there is no space. Eventually the guy took his hammock down and stormed off sullenly. This was a big hit with the group of Colombian guys from Cali that were our neighbors. They were laughing and imitating Jen "no hay espacio" waving their finger in the air and mimicking her untying his hammock. They loved it, and it gained their respect. From that point on we were initiated into what we called the Cali Cartel. It was, however, quite uncomfortable having to see the guy we kicked out for the rest for the trip.

The Cartel proved to be very useful and important for our journey. They carved out space for us and put us right between the four of them. Victor Hugo, Luis Alfonso, Gerardo and Maicol became our friends and protectors during the trip. The boat was full of thieves as well, and the other gringos all had something stolen from them (one girl had her shoes stolen when she was sleeping) while on the boat, but nobody messed with the Cali Cartel. We would stay up late talking to them, and listening to their stories of Cali and the drug wars there. One of them lived in a house bought by head of the real Cali Cartel 10 years ago. His mother was one of their cooks for parties, and she would be driven to his Finca with a hood over her head so she would not know where they were going. Once she was inside their secretive lairs everyone was very nice, and she noticed many famous soccer players and politicians in attendance. The head of the operation is one of the Roriguez brothers, was never caught, and now lives in the States.

Now that we had barely adequate hammock space, and people watching our stuff, we could spend more time on the top deck watching the huge river pass by, and the jungle that is unbelievably expansive and alive. We could see the little villages that occupy this mostly uninhabited part of the world, and we could see the poverty that we have come to know in Amazonia. It is one of the poorest places on earth, and many people don't have anything and still hunt for food and sleep in the jungle. Most of the passengers on the boat were from these small villages and were heading up to the big city of Manaus to visit family or friends.

Meals on the boat were also quite interesting. In the back of the area where the hammocks were, there were 4 bathrooms, a kitchen, and a table that seated 12 people. Meals were served when a bell rang, and people would eat in shifts of 12 at a time. This was a logistical nightmare as there were more than 200 people on the boat, and all this traffic was congregating where the few bathrooms were located. So, how it worked was 12 people would sit, food would be put out, and people would scoop as much on their plates as they could and gobble food down quickly before the next shift of people were to sit down. The kitchen only had 12 plates, so after someone was finished eating they would grab the plate and wash it in the brown river and put it back for the next group. It was very hectic, and we learned quickly how to be aggressive and make sure we got a spot and food before it was all gone. The meal schedule was also interesting, breakfast at 5 AM, lunch at 10:30, and diner at 4:30.

Although the trip was long (3 nights turned into 4) and we had no personal space, and the ship was dirty and full of drunks and thieves, we did get to meet some fantastic people. Besides the group from Cali, we had two adorable families hanging in hammocks nearby. Billy met a little girl who had a giant smile and wouldn't talk very much. This was OK with him because he doesn't know any Portugese, so they would communicate with hand signals and smiles and facial gestures. After a while of talking and playing, it seemed that her lack of speech was not normal shyness. Billy's fears were confirmed when another even younger girl came up and said, "Ella no habla, muta." She doesn't speak, she is mute. It was a treat to spend so much time with such a cute girl and to make her happy by taking the time to understand her gestures and looks. Everytime she tried to explain something with her hands, and anyone showed understanding of what she was trying to say, she would beam with a huge smile of accomplishment. Neither of us will ever forget her, there was something about her that was very touching. We also had a whole family of 7 children on the other side of us, and they were all talkative, tri-lingual (Spanish, Portugese and indigenous dialect) and very cute too. They would spend the days running around, teaching the smaller ones how to dance, and talking to us. The eldest was a 11 year old one-eyed boy who ruled the coup with an iron fist. If anyone got out of line, he would whack them on the head. He was also very charismatic and fun to talk to.

Overall we can not say that we would recommend this method of travel, or that we would do it again. After 1000 miles in such a cramped space all you want to do is get off the boat. However, the people we met made it a really special journey. When we took out the camera the last night it was actually sad to take the pictures of people we know we will never see again. They all loved the camera, even the Cartel, and we ended up taking tons of pictures as everyone wanted to be in a photo. We have seen so many beautiful things, and the jungle is one of them, especially its great expanse and sense of endlessness, but the people are always what makes the experiences truly memorable.

We arrived in Manaus, Brazil at 2 AM, 20 hours later than we were supposed to. We were in shock after seeing only tiny villages of three to four huts for 5 days when we arrived in a city of 2 million people, with highrise buildings and lights and a giant port. It might have been the strangest thing we have seen so far on this trip. A giant oasis in a completely remote and underdeveloped part of the world.

posted by The Blaus @ 11:01 AM